(..,)Curtis Mayfield is out, and Elvis Costello is in as this season’s theme music, as the credits (now updated to feature more shots of the porn movie business, discos and other late-Seventies imagery) are now accompanied by a new version of Elvis Costello’s “This Year’s Girl.” It combines Costello’s vocals from the original 1978 version with new vocals by Natalie Bergman from the band Wild Belle, to turn it into a decades-spanning duet with a faster beat.(...)

In the second season of HBO’s The Deuce, the series about New York City’s burgeoning porn industry has jumped ahead to 1977, and many of the women are making moves toward a modicum of autonomy. Candy (Maggie Gyllenhaal) has gone from tricking to adult-film auteur; Abby (Margarita Levieva) is managing the Hi-Hat and introducing her punk-rock sensibility to Vincent’s (James Franco) dive bar; Lori (Emily Meade) and Darlene (Dominique Fishback) are transitioning from streetwalkers to porn stars. But one of the first major signifiers of the show’s changing landscape is its main title song: Curtis Mayfield’s “If There’s a Hell Below We’re All Going to Go” has been replaced with Elvis Costello’s “This Year’s Girl.”

Dropping the needle on Costello and the Attractions’ 1978 song from the album This Year’s Model wasn’t as simple as it sounds. Leading the effort to find a new refrain was The Deuce’s music supervisor, Blake Leyh — an old-school punk-rock fan, who, as a teenager in 1977, made a pilgrimage to New York’s CBGB. He had three goals for the new song: It had to be historically accurate, it had reflect the city’s dynamism, and he wanted it to be sung by a woman. That last requirement was ultimately abandoned, however, when Leyh says it became clear “the misogyny of the music industry” of that era meant there were few female singer-songwriters to choose from. (They couldn’t find a Patti Smith song that worked, and the Pretenders hadn’t recorded yet.) Here’s what else Leyh — who has worked with Deuce co-creator David Simon since The Wire — says was instrumental in the show’s latest musical selection.

Why Elvis Costello made the cut

Because the period piece had to convey many things, Leyh listened to hundreds of tunes by bands including Gang of Four, James Chance and the Contortions, the Clash, Talking Heads, Devo, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and the Runaways. “It was definitely one of the hardest songs we’ve ever had to find,” he says. Costello’s “Lipstick Vogue” from This Year’s Model was also a contender. Leyh’s personal favorite, “We Are Prostitutes” by the Pop Group, wasn’t well loved, especially because Leyh says, “One of the cardinal sins in David Simon’s world is being too on-point.”

On the other hand, the New Wave icon’s song works because it addresses the show’s theme more obliquely. “It’s about the commodification of women and the process of turning them into sexual products for male consumption,” Leyh says. Even though it was released in 1979, the song ultimately was allowed because music accompanying montages and title songs is given a bit more historical slack — and because the story will head into ’78 by the end of this season. (Elsewhere, Leyh is a stickler for accuracy: All of the singles in Abby’s Hi-Hat jukebox are period perfect.)

Leyh says Costello, who revealed in July he’d had surgery on a “small but very aggressive cancerous malignancy” and canceled part of his European tour, liked the idea of giving new life and context to the song by pairing him with a female singer to create a duet.

Who’s singing “This Year’s Girl”?

Simon first approached Costello about using his song. He and Deuce co-creator George Pelecanos have known the legendary singer-songwriter since he appeared on the first episode of Treme. “At the time I didn’t know if Elvis had seen the first season of The Deuce,” Simon told Vulture via email. “As it turned out, he had enjoyed and understood the show, having been drawn in specifically by the use of [the] Curtis Mayfield [song]. He understood entirely the resonance of “This Year’s Girl” to our theme and he quickly committed with us to trying to remix [the song].”

Using the master recording, Leyh says he first tried duets with “belters” going up against Costello’s original vocal to match its intensity. But after working with several singers whose names he declines to disclose, he realized the vocals sounded too similar. That’s when Sebastian Krys, who co-produced Costello’s upcoming album, suggested Wild Belle’s Natalie Bergman, with whom he’s also worked. Krys recorded Bergman in Los Angeles, and her sultry rendition provided the contrast the updated version needed. “Her voice made it new and fresh,” Leyh says. “The way she sort of imposes herself on the song — it’s a subtle thing, but it’s quite effective. She takes the song away from Elvis for a minute and then lets him back in, so there’s a bit of a battle going.”

Why the lyrics are so fitting for The Deuce

On the surface, the infectious tune seems celebratory. But a closer read of the lyrics reveal something more intense. In his 2016 book, Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink, Costello said it was “an answer song” to the Rolling Stones’ “Stupid Girl.” “My lyrics might have been tough on the girl, but, it was full of regret and a little sympathy, while the Jagger-Richards song seemed to take delight in being heartless and cruel,” he wrote.

On the new duet, Bergman raspily delivers some of the song’s most brutal lines: “You want her broken with her mouth wide open ’cause she’s this year’s girl.” Leyh, who was 16 when the original record was released, said it was only when he revisited the pop song in this new context that he realized how dark it is. Which makes it perfect for a show about the objectification of women in the 1970s.

Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.

Season 2 of HBO’s gritty series “The Deuce” began Sept. 9, 2018. Whether viewers have kept up with the series in real-time, or have caught up through streaming services, they are sure to have noticed the series’ music.

While music has always played an integral role on the show, that it has changed indicates to audiences that things are different now- -on the show that is. The early 1970s, as depicted on “The Deuce” are different from the late 1970s, which is where viewers find the cast of characters who survived from season 1.

The first thing viewers will notice about the new season is a new theme song. While the development might sound insignificant, it is unlikely that many viewers have seen the idea used before. The theme songs have worked as framing devices for the mood of the seasons. Also different, is the opening montage. In the first season, Curtis Mayfield’s “(Don’t Worry) If There’s a Hell Below, We’re All Gonna Go” is the song that opens each episode. The 1971 song almost detracts audiences from its dark message with its hypnotic, fuzzy bass and horn accents. The rhythm matches the vibe shown onscreen– menacing scenes of early 1970s Time Square with a variety of scenes of nightlife and the players involved in the blossoming pornography industry.

For season 2, the scenery and the music is a little bit lighter. A relatively stylish montage layers upon itself as “This Year’s Girl” by Elvis Costello plays. The song indicates the relative independence that women in the show are gaining this season. Even the pornography industry has attempted to legitimize itself through an Oscar-style award show. At that award show, two of the show’s regulars win for supporting actress and directing duties. Viewers are shown late 1970’s Los Angeles, and are allowed to appreciate the sunny vista the prostitute-turned porn actress sees from her hotel balcony. Her naïve expression in regard to the relative beauty is engaging, and she reminds no one of the street-smart young woman she is in New York City. She is clearly this year’s girl.

Another woman who is continuing to find her own voice is former prostitute, Candy, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. Candy was always different from the other prostitutes because she didn’t have a pimp. At the end of season 1, she was interested in pornography, but was getting serious about directing. In season 2, Candy is calling a lot of shots and is making the movie she has dreamed of.

Throughout the episodes, women are finding their voices. A former prostitute comes back from California to work with a mission group that aids street workers. Her accidental meetings with her former pimp are unnerving and gut-wrenching, but it is good to see that she has distanced herself from her former life.

But it isn’t just women who are reflected in the new soundtrack. Depending on which source a person consults, the new season starts in 1977 or 1978. Punk scenes play a role in the opening credits, with shots of famed club CBGB featured prominently, in addition to pictures of young people with mohawks. Even with the growing popularity of punk, disco was not dead yet.

Case in point, the use of Tavares’ “It Only Takes a Minute.” The song is played in a celebratory scene and features several cast members dancing and really interacting with the song. The song itself has a heavy and nuanced groove and bass line. What sounds like a keyboard plays a bouncy motif above the heavier groove. If the urban 1970s had its own soundtrack, then “It Only Takes a Minute” would definitely be on it.

This song adds the world-building because in real-life in the 1970s, Tavares had a hit on the then-new “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack with “Disco Inferno.” With the placement of another Tavares song in a scene on “The Deuce,” it was as though viewers are watching people celebrate a group who has just become popular continue their success.

“The Deuce” succeeds on the basis of the show’s creators’ abilities to capture the fine points of what it meant to live in a certain section of New York City during the 1970s.

Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.